Steven Gerrard is the new manager of Aston Villa, and there’s an element of excitement in the air around Villa Park.
The Midlands club have just appointed a manager who has just won a league title without losing a single game, and on top of that, they’ve appointed a former England captain who is a bona fide Premier League legend.
It’s very easy to get carried away in the wake of this appointment, but Stan Collymore believes that Villa fans have to come into this new era with tempered expectations.
Indeed, the boyhood Villa fans has urged fans to have patience with Gerrard as he takes up his first-ever managerial job in English football.
Collymore is spot on with what he says.
Gerrard may well come in and prove to be a revelation at Villa, but if he doesn’t turn things around straight away, the knives shouldn’t come out for him.
Gerrard knows the Premier League like the back of his hand from his playing days, but management is a different beast.
Yes, he’s done the business at Rangers, but as the late, great Walter Smith showed during his spell with Everton, great performances in Scotland don’t always translate to Premier League success.
Collymore preaches patience with Gerrard and hopefully the Villa Park faithful will listen to this message.
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